COS 125-1 - Twenty-five years of conservation planning in San Diego County, USA: successes, challenges and lessons learned

Abstract: Due to its diverse topography, unique geological conditions, and moderate Mediterranean climate, the San Diego region has many rare and endemic species. San Diego is also a vibrant and growing urban area that will add an additional million people over the next 30 years. As such San Diego has more federally-listed threatened and endangered species than any other county in the continental United States. This conflict between accommodating future growth while conserving lands to maintain endangered species, led San Diego to embark on regional scale conservation planning. The goal was to protect multiple species of conservation concern, their habitats and ecological processes, while allowing for planned development and economic growth.



To achieve this goal, conservation planning was carried out under provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act and the state’s Natural Community Conservation Planning Act. California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service worked with partners to develop plans based on the best available science. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the metropolitan planning organization for the San Diego region, has coordinated conservation planning with the wildlife agencies for the last 25 years, from the early planning phases through implementation, land management and biological monitoring.



Successes include the acquisition of over 156,000 acres for conservation, that when combined with lands already owned by state, federal and local agencies, established a 670,189-acre interconnected regional preserve in western San Diego County. This regional preserve protects 111 species of conservation concern, diverse natural communities and led to the establishment of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge and the expansion of the State’s Ecological Reserves. SANDAG also established the San Diego Management and Monitoring Program (SDMMP) to coordinate and implement regional management and monitoring across conservation plan boundaries. SDMMP and land managers have monitored 85 (77%) of species of conservation concern since 2008.



Challenges to implementation have come from ecological and non-ecological factors that include, unprecedented wildfires, management of the wildland-urban interface, development of a meaningful ecological monitoring program, recreational use of the preserve, shifting political interest in conservation planning, and lack of consistent long-term funding. While each region is unique and will require their own approach, it is hoped that the lessons learned from San Diego’s efforts can result in better conservation planning efforts in other regions.